Living Oceans Society

We’re asking people to put their consumer power to work where politicians have feared to tread: to take action on climate change with a pledge against buying a new car until car makers provide affordable, fully electric options to fossil fuel engines. Supporters taking the pledge will seal it with a nominal donation to Living Oceans Society. We’ll send the pledges to the car makers and dealers.

What does a car have to do with the ocean? Tailpipe emissions put CO2 in the air; that is absorbed by the ocean, where it turns into acid. The ocean is 30% more acidic today than before the industrial revolution and is expected to be 50% more acidic by 2050.

Ocean acidification is bad enough already that some shellfish growers can’t start their crops in the ocean anymore—the embryos can’t form shells. That means that all those tiny, shelled creatures at the base of the food web may also have trouble forming shells. When the food web is disrupted, everything in the ocean is in trouble!

Sustainable transportation options need renewable energy solutions—that’s why we’ll ask car companies to support their electric cars with a network of renewable energy “filling stations”, where you can change out your battery quicker than you’d fill your fuel tank. Take “the pledge” today, for the climate, the ocean and sustainable seafood!